How to Protect Kids From Coyotes

Protect your kids from coyote attacks, which happen now in suburban well as rural areas. Use these common sense tactics to keep coyotes off your property and out of your neighborhood. Set up safeguards for your children, as well as any pets and small livestock.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Keep younger children indoors when they cannot be supervised, as many coyote attacks on toddlers happened to kids playing in their own yards unattended.

2. Remove coyote magnets from your property. Water attracts coyotes, particularly in dry climates. Bring in left over pet food immediately if you feed outside. Remove fallen fruit from under trees and cover compost piles securely. Store bags of feed or other edible things indoors.

3. Clear away vegetation where coyotes can lurk, such as tall grass and ground-level scrub.

4. Put garbage in cans with lids that fasten and bring the cans out the morning garbage is collected, rather than leaving them out all night to draw in roaming coyotes.

5. Invest in secure fencing. If you have a chicken coop, dig a 1-foot trench around it and bury the chicken wire at least that deep.

6. Talk to your neighbors and homeowner association about how everyone can pitch in to keep coyotes out.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep coyotes wary. Make noise, throw rocks or turn a hose on any coyote you see wandering through.
• Don't using trash bags to dispose of garbage; coyotes can easily rip them open.
• Don't let your pets run loose. Coyotes hunt small dogs and cats, so roaming pets can draw them in. Coyotes alone or in groups will attack larger dogs, causing rabies or death.

Resources

• Find out how to build a coyote fence.